23. Dakota
Dakota
W e had an omega.
It was official.
Holy fuck .
What started as a family night barbecuing had twisted into discussing our worst nightmare, followed by possibly one of the best nights of my life.
We had always dreamed of having an omega, and we had come close to that with Caroline, but the reality of the situation was so much better. Piper was a million times better than Caroline—she was genuinely sweet and caring.
And she chose us.
Well, she chose Maisie, but in doing that, she chose us. Piper would be in our lives forever.
I wanted to walk around with my shirt off all day, just so I could show off the bite mark on my shoulder that meant I was bonded with an omega.
Suddenly, I had a new appreciation for the way Zeke strutted around the house.
Clay had insisted on spending the night with Piper in her room, and as he was technically our pack lead, we let him.
The grumpy bastard had some making up to do.
“You know, we’re going to have to do some rearranging around here,” I said as I poured myself some cereal. Clay and Piper had yet to appear from their slumber, so it was down to me and Montana to gather breakfast. Zeke was outside with Maisie, collecting eggs.
Montana cocked his head at me over his cup of coffee. “What do you mean by rearranging?”
“Well, the bedroom situation is going to have to change. None of our rooms are big enough to accommodate an entire pack. Plus, Piper is going to need a nest.”
Montana stilled for a moment before nodding slowly. “Shit, I hadn't thought of that. The bonding happened so suddenly…”
“That it did,” I murmured in agreement. “But that doesn't mean we shouldn't sort this stuff out now. How do we go about adding a nest to this place?”
“We will have to talk to Clay about it when he finally decides to make an appearance. Given the layout of the house, converting the bedroom downstairs would probably be best. I can move my office upstairs, and we could always extend and knock a wall down to make a large pack bedroom.”
“You think we can do that soon?” I asked. “I don’t like making her wait.”
“I think we can do it in a week or two, but she’ll need furniture and nesting supplies. The few old quilts she has up there won’t do shit when her heat hits and her nesting instinct goes haywire.”
We were all farm boys and good with our hands. We had added extensions to buildings and knocked out walls. I just wanted to ensure we did it properly for Piper.
The soft padding of feet in the hallway alerted us to Piper’s arrival. Wearing nothing but a large T-shirt belonging to Clay, she shyly entered the room and made a beeline for the fridge.
“Morning,” she greeted softly.
“Hey, pretty girl,” I said, putting my cereal down and walking over to her. Tugging her into a hug, I kissed the top of her head and relished in her scent for a moment. Her scent that was closely intermingled with Clay’s after their night together.
Our bite marks on her were perfection.
The obvious declaration to the world that she was taken.
Even though the stench of Clay stuck to her, her own unique scent was there, but somewhat changed. I didn't know if it was because we had bonded or because she was my mate, but the scent was that much stronger now. There was a new depth to it that almost mimicked our scents.
“Montana made coffee. Want me to get you one? We got more of that gross creamer stuff packed with sugar you adore.”
A smile spread across Piper’s face as she nodded sleepily.
I resisted the urge to tell her that Clay was the one who had bought her the creamer, despite his previous misgivings about the product.
Whatever Piper wanted, Piper got.
“What are your plans for the day?” I asked as she padded toward the table intending to take a seat.
Montana had other ideas, though. Grasping her hips, he pulled her onto his lap. She didn’t resist, snuggling into his chest and inhaling his scent. There was no awkwardness, just cozy comfort.
“That depends on what you guys are up to, I suppose,” she said. “Usually you’re out working at this time.”
“Well, we decided we could have a later start today, seeing as someone tuckered us out last night,” Montana laughed, resting his chin on top of her head.
The blush that covered her face at his words was adorable. How could someone who had been so sexy and open the night before be shy and bashful in the morning?
Piper didn’t realize how stunning she was—but we had the rest of our lives to show her just how much we appreciated her.
The comment she’d made the night before about us losing interest in her absolutely baffled me. I was going to be obsessed with Piper until the day I died. I was sure of it.
“Well, before everything happened last night, my plan was to go with Maisie to do the eggs and then maybe take her to town to get some new supplies for preschool here at home. We never really talked about your plan for her education.”
“The local school is decent, but it's not wonderful. We had actually looked into private schooling, but it was so expensive.”
“I can help there. If you guys are okay with me staying home with Maisie, I can help supplement her schooling.”
“Why wouldn't we be okay with you staying home with Maisie?” Montana asked in confusion.
Piper cocked her head to the side and kissed his cheek.
“I didn't want to assume. We didn't exactly discuss it before last night.
I know you guys are pretty traditional, and wouldn't mind having an omega who stayed at home and looked after any children, but this isn't exactly a typical situation, is it?”
I was about to stride over there and make my point, but my twin was clearly thinking the same as I and got there before me.
Taking her chin in his fingers, he tilted her head up, so they were looking one another in the eye.
“We want you to do whatever the hell makes you happy. If that’s staying home all day with our little lady and teaching her and watching her grow while keeping this house, then that's amazing. If you want to go and work in town, you’re also more than welcome to.
We are your pack. We're not here to boss you around or tell you what to do.”
“We are here to support you in whatever you want,” I added. “That's what being a pack means. That, and sometimes giving each other a smack on the back of the head when we're being idiots, but that’s mainly for Zeke,” I laughed.
Montana leaned down, capturing Piper’s lips in his. It was a painfully sweet embrace, but still, my cock was hardening.
Simply being around Piper was arousing.
Loud booted footsteps rang through the house as Clay entered the kitchen. “Well, you can also get a slap on the back of the head pretty regularly, Kota. Hey, city girl,” he greeted, making a beeline for Piper.
The nickname had become downright loving.
“Everything all right?” she asked softly. “You were out early.”
He nodded. “I just had a few errands to take care of. Did you sleep okay?”
“I did,” she confirmed, smiling up at him, still wrapped up in my twin brother’s arms. “But I need to go grab a shower before Maisie gets done with the chickens!” She scrambled out of Montana’s lap, grabbing her mug of coffee.
“Want some company?” I asked.
“If you join me, my quick shower will become far too long!” she laughed as she quickly scampered out of the room.
Clay’s eyes remained locked on the door she had just left through for a minute, and I could tell he was debating following her anyway.
“Hey, leave our omega alone. We need to chat,” I said, waving my spoon around as I spoke.
Clay turned on his heel to face me, the smile slipping off his face. “What have you done?” he asked, his voice far more serious than it had been moments earlier.
“Why are you assuming I've done something?” I grumbled.
“He actually hasn't, for once,” Montana said. “We wanted to get your opinion on sorting out some space for a pack bedroom. Piper is going to need a nest. We were thinking of maybe getting rid of the wall between her bedroom and my office and maybe even extending it a bit.”
Clay nodded, deep in thought. “Ah, yeah, she’s going to need space. This house is in no way suitable for an omega. We should get on that…”
“I’ll go into town and start getting some materials today. If we get some of the ranch hands to help us, the job could be done pretty quickly.”
Clay crossed his arms. “No. We’ll do the building ourselves.”
It wasn’t that unusual for the ranch hands to help. The previous summer, they had helped us lay the decking outside of Piper’s room.
“They’re good, and they won’t mind a little extra work,” I reasoned.
“Do you really want other men in Piper’s space? Around our omega?”
I paused, putting my cereal bowl down on the counter, suddenly finding my breakfast unappetizing. The very idea of Piper around other men set my teeth on edge.
“Oh, fuck,” I murmured.
“Yeah, for now, until the bond settles down a bit, maybe the ranch hands should stay away from the house,” Montana suggested with a frown.
It seemed none of us particularly liked the idea of Piper being around others.
“My alpha wants her only around us,” I admitted. I wasn’t usually so possessive, but fuck, bonding had brought out my aggressive side, it seemed.
Clay shook his head, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He was the most possessive out of the lot of us, so Piper was in for an interesting time.
Hopefully, she wouldn’t hate us.